


Cloak of Scales (Ver. 1)

by Ellipsis_DotDotDot



Series: Cloak of Scales AU [1]
Category: LEGO Nexo Knights
Genre: AU, About fifteen years after, Alternate Universe, Dragons, F/M, Magic, Magical Creatures, Post-Canon, Sorceresses, werecreatures
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2020-10-19
Updated: 2020-11-11
Packaged: 2021-03-08 17:14:12
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 4
Words: 3,081
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/27100276
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Ellipsis_DotDotDot/pseuds/Ellipsis_DotDotDot
Summary: When a sudden increase in dragon sightings is reported, the NEXO Knights are recruited to check them out. But little do they know, in the Legendton-Cattington Area, things are different from the world they've lived in. And when disaster strikes, it leaves one of their own severely injured, and the others wondering just how much they can trust him. Meanwhile, deep in the forest, and ancient evil rises... And he's coming for the knights.
Relationships: Aaron Fox/Original Character(s)
Series: Cloak of Scales AU [1]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/1978030
Comments: 5
Kudos: 2





	1. But I Though Dragons Were Extinct...

**Author's Note:**

> Hey y'all, just some notes. Firstly, the disclaimer: I don't own NEXO Knights. I do, however, own this AU and shall write it to the best of my ability. Next, I'd like to apologize to any guest users who can't comment. I'm very sorry, and I know how you feel, but this was one of the guidelines my mom set in place. Thirdly, I'd like to ask you to please keep your comments appropriate, and please refrain from swearing. I can't make you, but I can still ask. And lastly, I'd like to dedicate this post to BlazeThePhoenix, who write wonderful stories and is quite possibly the reason I asked for an account, and definitely the reason I'm posting this story first. Thank you Blaze! *waves*

“You’re probably wondering why I summoned you,” King Halbert said to the assembled Nexo Knights.

“Not really,” said Macy Halbert, who happened to be the king’s daughter and heir to the throne.

“That was rhetorical,” King Halbert said, sighing.

“Oh.”

“Anyway,” Clay Moorington, blue knight, interjected before the conversation could derail, “Why are we here?”

The king looked grim. “There have been increased dragon sightings in the Legendton-Cattington Area. I want you to go check it out, and slay the dragons if possible.”

“How long is this going to take?” This question came from the self-absorbed Lance Richmond. “I need to know what I need to reschedule.”

Irritated, Halbert replied, “Do I look like I know? It’ll take as long as it takes!”

“Okay,” said Axl, who was in the process of eating a turkey leg.

“But what about Aaron?” Clay asked, having noticed the green knight’s absence.

“He’ll meet you there. Now go!” King Halbert made little shooing motions, because he wanted his kingdom dragon-free.

\--==~^~==--

Later, on the Fortrex, nearing Legendton…

“Y’know, I thought dragons were extinct,” Robin announced.

“Evidently not,” Ava pithily replied. “And we want them to be extinct anyway. They’re dangerous.”

Robin frowned. He thought it would be rather silly if the queen and princess’s crest had a dragon on it in a dragon-less kingdom. And what if dragons were trainable? Then they could be used for transportation and other things....

With Ava absorbed in her Ipad and Robin his thoughts, no one noticed the dark green scales flashing from the trees.


	2. What The WHAT?!

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> The knights meet the local knight, and get a shock. That's basically all that's happening.

By the time the Fortrex arrived in the Legendton-Cattington Area, it was already dark, so the Nexo Knights decided to wait until morning to approach the local knight. 

Unfortunately, they had parked to Fortrex in the rough middle of the town, facing east. And well, it’s called Cattington for a reason…

“Let’s go knights!” Clay shouted at six in the morning.

“Um, Clay?” Robin hesitantly began. “You do realize we parked the Fortrex facing east, right?”

Clay gave him a funny look - why was that a problem? “So?”

“So,” Ava interjected, rolling her eyes, positively brimming with sass as usual. “We’re in the Legendton-Cattington Area, and cats are now sleeping on the front of the Fortrex.”

Just then, Macy walked in. Having been given enough time to wake up, she was able to think of a quick (and somewhat obvious) solution.

“How about turning on the vacuum cleaner? Cats hate vacuums.”

\--==~^~==--

Once the cat situation had been resolved (and several citizens unintentionally terrorized - Legendton-Cattington residents hate vacuums too) the knights, along with Robin and Ava, set out to the local knight’s office.

The office sat in a small, unassuming cabin a short ways into the woods. It blended in well - suspiciously well, perhaps.

At the first knock, there was no answer. The second time, however, yielded an annoyed-sounding, “Come in!”

When the knights entered, all they saw was a cushioned - and unoccupied - wooden swivel chair that sat behind a worn oak desk. Behind the desk sat a large spruce wood bookcase, and some sort of spindly-legged creature was plucking books off the shelf and placing them in a basket. (Think of the goblins in Trollhunters: Tales of Arcadia.)

“GOBLIN!” Clay shouted, clearly overreacting.

“Of course,” said the annoyed voice from before, “Who or what else do you expect to fetch the books I need for this absurd case?” An older woman with glasses and a feathery cape walked into the front room. At the blank looks she was given, she clarified, “The dragon problem, dummies!”

“Um… That’s sort of why we’re here?” Macy tried to defuse the situation.

“Well then, you’ll have to wait to talk to the local knight. Today’s his day off,” the woman added snarkily, like this should convey some sort of significant meaning.

Clay responded, “And this is important.” clearly thinking that that could persuade this old woman.

Unfortunately, she had a refutation at the ready. “He only gives up his days off for real emergencies. And you,” the old lady gestured to the knights, “Are clearly not an emergency. Now shoo!” And with that, she ran them out of the office.

\--==~^~==--

The next day…

The knights headed back to the local knight’s office in the morning, although this time they left Ava and Robin behind. When they arrived at the cabin, there was a figure behind the desk in the front room.

The knight, whoever it was, was leaning back in his chair, with his feet propped up on the desk. His face was obscured by the curious green cloak he was wearing, which appeared to be made out of scales of some sort. Snores were emanating from the figure.

Axl and Lance were now confused, Macy somewhat taken aback, and Clay annoyed. What sort of knight slept on the job?!

Perturbed, Clay asked, “Hello?” After the sleeping knight gave no response, Clay loudly demanded, “HELLO?!”

The knight, startled awake, began to shout, “Huh?! What?! Where’s the emergency?! It wasn’t Fernangel and Aweila again, was it?” And then he froze, as did the other knights.

Macy was the first one to recover. “Aaron?!” she shouted, “You’re the local knight?!”

“It would appear so,” Aaron drily responded.

The rest of the knights were shocked. They had been told that Aaron would meet them there, not that he was the local knight. However, one of them had something to say before the others could speak.

“What were you doing, sleeping on the job?!” Clay began shouting. But before he could continue, Aaron gave him a look like, Dude, really? That’s the question you ask? and cut him off. “Well, considering I’ve been up since one in the morning busting con men and nabbing poachers, and I end up doing that on a regular basis, yeah, I tend to catch a few Z’s when I can.”

The others stood dumbfounded, even Clay. Most of them were still complaining when Clay woke them up at six, and here was Aaron, catching bad guys at one A.M. Noting their expressions, Aaron nonchalantly noted, “This is the Legendton-Cattington Area. Welcome to the big leagues.”

Just then, Robin sent Clay a text asking what the knight had said about the dragons. Clay stared at the phone for a moment - with the shock of Aaron being the local knight and the ensuing conversation he’d completely forgotten why they came - then he looked up and asked, “Do you know about the dragon problem?”

Aaron looked confused for a moment before his expression cleared. “Dragon… problem? Oh! The recent tourism increase!” Aaron had a Eureka! moment sort of face as he said, “The dragons aren’t the problem, the tourists are! The only major group of dragons around here are a Black Dragon tribe, the Tribe of the Setting Moon to be precise. But Black Dragons are powerful sorcerers that are currently allied with us, so they’d never be a problem. We have moonly meetings with them too, so that we can make sure no one’s bothering the other. The occasional traveling dragon comes through too, but wearles only come once a century for a council of dragons. Fire Dragons go rogue sometimes, but not usually, and the wearles deal out a punishment for that anyway. There is a Nature Dragon who lives around here, and I haven’t met him in person myself, but we don’t have to worry about destruction and death from him, I mean, if you could literally sense and feel the pain of others, you wouldn’t go on a destructive rampage of death, would you?” Aaron concluded his brief lecture.

The other knights stood dumbfounded yet again. Noticing their expressions, Aaron added, “I did say welcome to the big leagues.”

\--==~^~==--

After the Nexo Knights Recover from Shock... 

Okay, not really. It’s just that, at that moment, an unfamiliar man ran into the office and began speaking in rapid-fire Spanish… Welsh… Welshanish? Spanelsh? Even Aaron was overwhelmed by the stream of foreign speech and attempted to get the man to calm down, saying, “Whoa, whoa, slow down Carlos, I may have spent all my summers here since I was young, but I still can’t understand your crazy Welsh-Spanish stuff when you talk too fast…”

The man, Carlos, paused, took a deep breath, and announced in a heavy Mexican accent, “Fernangel and Aweila are missing!”

Aaron’s eyes immediately widened. Oh crap, when Maya finds out… standing, the green knight ordered, Carlos, you start searching for their scents. I’ll go talk to the Tribe of the Setting Moon and see if they know. If they don’t…” Aaron cringed at the thought of the next task. “...I’ll tell Maya.”

Carlos winced in sympathy but nodded as he dashed out the door, shifting into his Mexican Wolf form as he did so. The Nexo Knights stared out the door after the werewolf, then looked to Aaron for an explanation. However, Aaron was not someone you could just look to for an explanation. He just said, “He’s a Mooner, what did you expect? Now come on, you might as well meet the Tribe of the Setting Moon sooner rather than later.”

\--==~^~==--

And now it’s time for a brief interlude…

Robin shifted uncomfortable in his chair. The knights had been gone for quite a while and he was getting BORED. Fortunately, before he could become dangerously bored, a clatter was heard from the entrance of the Fortrex.

Robin slowly got up and made his way to the front of the rolling castle. Oh boy… he thought. In the front of the building were two little girls, bothe about five or six, and both wearing little cloak-cape-thingies. One had a cape made of fur, and the other, a cloak of scales...

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Can't figure out how to do italics. Please help. Again, comment and kudos are appreciated, but please no swearing. Until next time, God bless!


	3. This is My Home, And I Will Protect It. Or, Children on the Fortrex - Whose Bright Idea Was This?

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> The knights are threatened, Aaron makes a promise, and Robin decides to take the children to Ava.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I don't know if I've mentioned this, but this takes place approximately fifteen years after canon events, so... Yeah.

As the Nexo Knights trod through the woods, they regained their wits and began to pelt Aaron with question. There are dragons? You don’t slay them? They’re _allies_? How did that guy back there turn into a wolf? Who are Fernangel and Aweila? Who’s Maya? What the heck is going on here??

The last question elicited a more thought-out response than any of the previous ones. Aaron halted and turned to face the knights. “What’s going on is the side of the world that most never see,” he explained, “The side of the world that is too dangerous and too _different_ for the general population to know. Here in Legendton we consider it our responsibility to protect the denizens of the town and the forest from the outside world. Much of this responsibility falls on village elders and the area’s current knight. We actually have people in the outside world, those who are able to masquerade as regular people, working to make sure that this place is kept a secret and that the current knight isn’t an outsider. The recent flux of tourism resulted in increased numbers of people passing through, which has nearly exposed us. Allowing you to meet one of the best-kept secrets of this place in their own home is an act of great trust, and if you tell anyone else, the all of these people, who are just trying to make their own way in an especially dangerous world, will be forced to uproot themselves and their families and move to the Otherworld, because _you_ let out that beings such as werecreatures and dragons exist. If outsiders find out, this town will be flooded with hunters and collectors an-and scientists and people who are interested in obtaining specimens for a _zoo_ or for _dissections_ will come and tear these families apart, and it will be _all your fault_. So you better not let on that you know our secrets, or I will _not_ hesitate to do whatever it takes to protect my home.”

The glint of fierce protectiveness and determination in Aaron’s eye was enough to convince the other knights not to blab. With his speech over, the green knight turned and resumed leading them to the home of the black dragons, leaving the other to wonder just why Aaron was a ‘denizen’ of this place, as he called them. But they sensed it was best to leave the matter alone, and to meekly follow the knight through the unfamiliar and sometimes quite deadly forest.

\--==~^~==--

Meanwhile, on the Fortrex…

Well, apparently Wikipedia wasn’t that bad a place to go to when you needed advice on caring for a couple of kids who had wandered onto the Fortrex. Merlok, however, was not.

Robin had brought the children to the command center of the Fortrex, and upon his entrance with the kids, Ava had raised her eyebrow and asked where the children had come from. Specifically, she had said, “Robin… where did you get those?” like Robin had probably kidnapped them or something.

Robin shrugged and said, “They were in the Fortrex when I found them.”

Ava stared hard at her fellow knight-still-just-barely-in-training before turning back to her iPad and opening a new search window. Merlok, meanwhile, awakened, yawned, and shouted, “Who are those unfamiliar children?!”

Yeah, this is going to be a loooong day.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Thanks for reading, y'all! I'm sorry that this chapter is short, but I couldn't come up with more. Comments and kudos are appreciated VERY MUCH, and until next time, God bless!


	4. The Dragon Tribe

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Like the title says, they get to go to the dragon tribe. Also, the Missing Children mini-arc ends with a big surprise... Sort of. Next chapter has the aftermath.

“Woah,” Macy breathed as she marveled at the sight before them.

There was a truly massive clearing in the forest, positioned next to a hole-filled cliff and next to a wide and deep river. Trees were scattered throughout the place, allowing platforms to be suspended well above people’s heads. Large wooden huts dominated the ground, and fire pits pockmarked the surface. But the truly amazing sights were the residents - dragons.

The winged reptilians were all of various sizes and shapes, some larger and some smaller, some spikier and some sleek, but they all had one thing in common - their pitch black scales. But even those were unique to each dragon, and very few were only black. There were shinier dragons, and those with more matte scales, and dragons colored iridescent blue-green-purple or pink-red-orange-yellow, and even dragons who shone brown or gray or white. To put it simply, they were beautiful.

Throughout the clearing there were also humans, although the knights (minus Aaron, but that should be a given by now) were unsure why they were there. Aaron told them to stay put before leaving to ask around about the missing children. Unfortunately after several inquiries, it was apparent to the watching knights that the archer had failed. All four of them continued to watch as Aaron reluctantly walked over to one of the caves and knocked on the side of the entrance. Also, Axl got popcorn from somewhere.

A woman came out of the cave Aaron was at, and appeared to demand to know what was going on. Aaron rubbed the back of his head before responding to the lady, who screeched, “WHAAAT!!” and slapped the green knight in the face. Aaron rubbed his face as he gave his reply, and the woman stormed off muttering. Two children poked their heads out from the cave and said something to Aaron before running off after the angry lady.

As Aaron walked back to the knights with a defeated-looking posture, the others questioned how this was possible. A knight had just been one-upped by an angry lady?? _How_?? Well folks, some people, like our friends the knights, don’t understand how other people work sometimes.

Macy was the only one to voice their thoughts though, asking, “What was that about, Aaron?”

Aaron nervously rubbed the back of his head and replied, “Well- uh, that is- um… Maya is a very scary person to talk to? Especially when you’re telling her her youngest child is missing? And her youngest child’s best friend? Plus they both have a history of getting into mischief? I really should have had better locks on the filing cabinets, they never should’ve gotten a hold of that Marauders’ Map…”

Macy and the other knights stared open-mouthed. “Wait… Isn’t the Marauders’ Map from Harry Potter?”

Aaron replied, “No, I got that after shutting down an illegal operation run by a Ms. _Beatrix_ Potter. Quite a nasty business that was. So many dead-eyed stares…” Aaron shuddered as he recalled the incident. “Incredibly ghastly. I never want to have to do anything like _that_ again in my life.”

The Nexo Knights quickly decided that if there was something that scared _Aaron_ , the man who supposedly had “No fear!”, they didn’t want to know. Like, really didn’t.

Just then, a red Mexican wolf ran up, shifted back into human form, and announced, “Mi amigo, I have their scents!”

The green knight smirked, “Well then, let’s get crackin’.”

\--==~^~==--

Well, following a red Mexican werewolf through the woods to find two lost little girls wasn’t what the knights had expected to be doing, but here they are. The knights were having a harder time of getting through the underbrush than Aaron or the wolf, but still managed to keep a decent pace. They were surprised, though, when the wolf led them out of the woods and into town, heading straight towards the Fortrex entrance.

Charging right through the doors, Aaron got straight to the point and demanded, “Where are the children?!”

Two small girls immediately ran out from the halls of the Fortrex. The smaller of the girls, who was wearing a fur cape, ran to Carlos (who has shifted back to human form by now) and pulled on his shirt to get his attention, babbling excitedly in Welsh-Spanish while Carlos tried to get a word in edgewise. The other child though, the slightly older girl in the black and green cloak of scales, ran up to Aaron and exclaimed, “Hi Daddy! You’ll never guess what Aweila and I did! We went exploring and found a giant rolling castle! And then we decided to play dragons and ladies in the castle, but there were people there, but they were nice and gave us apple juice and crackers and let us color! And Ginger Flame and Clayfoot and Mossy Mistletoe and Coal and Snow and Rooster and Sass Apple came by ‘cause they were gonna sun themselves on the castle but they said hello to us too! And then you an’ Uncle Carlos and those people in the funny clothes showed up! And they have a magic glowy light man here Daddy! It’s so awesome!” the little girl cheered. 

Aaron smiled fondly at the little girl as she continued rambling about her adventures, whilst the other knights all stood there looking like this: 😲. Carlos noticed this and whispered to Aaron, “Creo que los rompiste.”*

Aaron smirked and replied, “Me too, buddy, me too.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> *Google claims this means, "I think you broke them." but I don't entirely trust Google, so if anyone knows for real, please do tell!! And as always, comments an' kudos are appreciated! Until next time, God bless!

**Author's Note:**

> Welp, that's done. Apologies for the short chapter, I'm working on the next and it's a lot longer, and it's almost done, but I decided to put something new in last-minute, so it might take a while. I really appreciate kudos and comments, and until next time, God bless!


End file.
